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The burden of proof rests entirely with the petitioner. It is his or her responsibility to provide all the needed evidence. The Board will then determine if the evidence presented is sufficient to qualify for registration or certification. If more proof is needed, the individual will be informed, assisted and encouraged in the hope that full recognition can eventually be extended.

To confirm and validate all the evidence can be an expensive process, or as easy as making a few phone calls or writing a few letters. But it is very important process so that anyone certified as genuine is indeed what he or she claims to be. Hence, all fully certified claims must be proven “beyond reasonable doubt” or to the point of 90% assurance. As an example, if a court of particular country determined that a title is valid based only on a “preponderance of evidence” (51% assurance), this would not be enough for

certification. However, if, after a review of the evidence, the proof is found to be “clear and convincing” or at a 70% level of assurance, then the title or lineage may be certified as provisional. Provisional means there are some unanswered or perhaps unanswerable questions, but the claim is very convincing and to all obvious appearances is true and correct. As stated, full certification requires a 90% level of assurance or is, for all practical purposes, beyond any reasonable doubt. To ensure that objective decisions are made, subjective opinions or evidence will not be considered. Only factual information will be considered except under very rare and highly unusual circumstances.